RDB and Pay commission..

Rang de Basanti is movie that can make you hate yourself. We seem to be a nation of people suffering from attention deficit disorder. 30 seconds of gandhism, patriotism and many other isms and bugger to the world again. How many peo even know that retired defence officers sat on a bhook hartal in hot May, demanding decent pay. I have had too many peo saying, "oh they have such a cushy life, govt gives ghar, naukar, ration..what do they have to worry abt". Tell me, how many of us would work for such a company where u can be posted out anytime, anywhere, u have no choice in terms of work profile, u cannot quit also without ur superior's permission, and u get an in-hand of 6000 a month. My dad served 32 years with the air force and retired with a monthly salary of 30000 rupees. This after a double first in his graduation and post graduation. My brother is in the air force today and he will earn (after the pay commission adjustments) 12000 bucks a month, after 4 yrs of service. This will include all his 72 continuous hours of manning radars in a place like Uttarlay, 10 kms from Barmer, a true hole in the wall where the idea of a trendy restaurant is Udupi and spiderman 2 released a month back. This for a salary less than a call centre employee gets today. How many of us would even try for a company like this?????????? I am all in support of the corporate world, but we ought to have better to do than belittle what we could not even dream of. I do not expect anyone even will read this, but if u do, please try to atleast pay attention to such things in the news and support these peo, or one day u might realise that everyone else also feels to hell with the defence and we become the latest banana republic.

Eureka...??????????

i had an idea sometime back. Actually this is an idea Bau and I had way back when we were tuccha bacchas in 9th, to open a book cafe. At that time, I was still obsessed with books (a lot more than now trust me..i mean i actually got the 'best in library science' award in school, simply for the amount of time i spent there!) and Bau liked baking (thats her maternal complex, she cant help it :D). unfortunately by the time we grew old enough to appreciate the workings of our prodigal minds, the barista buggers had taken it up.

But recently I have been thinking, that if i must remain umemployed for life (and its seriously beg to look like that!) and the if the only escape from that is to be the matrimonial bliss of feeding my pati parmeshwar (and if he is a true chaubey baalak, he will appreciate nothing else!) I might as well make a business out of it. A nice little book cafe, seating perhaps no more than 30-50. Books will be available for rent(or an hourly basis, with discounts for no. of orders) and purchase. Serve healthy, home cooking..sandwiches, cakes, pies and stuff (look up Cranks' menus). Open in some pseudo intellectual posh locality like siri fort (shahpur jat?) or perhaps even north campus (or embassy avenue?). SO people, come and give me advice..how does it sound??all constructive suggestions welcome (this leaves u out am afraid, Sistu).

Fauji and growing up..

Last night, i somehow ended up watching episodes of Fauji, a serial telecast in 1990 on DD. Serials then were very simple, ending in 13 episodes and certainly no reincarnations or remodelling of characters. It turned it to be quite engrossing even now, perhaps because no one turned up 20 yrs later with plastic surgery :) Shahrukh khan, in his first serial i believe, got top billing and even then u can see the charm he has (and whatever else u say abt the guy, he has got charm!). Some good acting, some seriously hilarious (in the last episode there is a scene of old woman randomly announcing a jawan's return from war with kathak movements and then vanishing into thin air..too funny!) and all adhering very properly to army life, except for one of the characters' tendency to say "I say chaps" (which normal army offs definitely do not!!!). I am surprised no one has yet come up with another serial on army life yet. I mean, they all keep crying abt the dearth of interesting scripts and new dimensions. The last one i rem in Mission Commando or something which was a documentary on Indian 'Commando' training, very well done and with the permission and full support of the army. But i suppose i should be thankful for small mercies that no love triangles, vamps and evil accidents on unlikely amavasyas are taking place in a cantt in the near future.

When u sit down and read abt all these soldiers who have died young, its striking how easily we believe that life is set for us or over as we know it. I suppose its partly the Indian mindset which sees a change in ur life setting as a lack of decision making prowess instead of a growing of vision for a person. After all if we can forgive all sins of childhood and youth, why can we not forget a basic mistake of being unsure abt what we want. Its hardly true that all of us are struck by enlightenment the day before we submit our graduation applications. For that matter, I do not believe most of us achieve nirvana in this matter for a long long time. So for once, lets raise a cheer to taking risks, being stupid and closing our ears to whats expected..al infierno con todos nosotros!Festejando a la estupidez!!!

That's the difference between me and the rest of the world! Happiness isn't good enough for me! I demand euphoria!

-who else but Calvin :)